A reader sent me a link to something I found very moving.
Some recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor joined together to make a video PSA to encourage America’s military to seek help when adjusting to life after combat, particularly for post-traumatic stress (PTS).
You can find their website and the video here: http://www.medalofhonorspeakout.org/
I doubt very much that there is a member of the military today who doesn’t know about PTS. What I don’t doubt is that people are people, and sometimes it is very hard to bend and admit that something isn’t going right and look for help. Perhaps seeing and hearing Medal of Honor recipients talk about this so frankly will help them over come a sense that bravery means never admitting you are in pain.
The men in the video show that "Never quit." and "Don’t be defeated." don’t mean never looking for help.
Here is the video. Be sure to go over and look at that site and perhaps share it with some vets who are returning home and who may be carrying some heavy invisible wounds and have actually brought something of the enemy home with them.
There are many videos at that site. This is only one of them.
WDTPRS kudos for this fantastic initiative.
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I’m a veteran. I volunteer at a VA hospital. That is incredibly moving. That is incredibly wonderful. That is very much needed.
I was just talking this afternoon with a fellow volunteer Vietnam vet who had PTS show up in his life five years ago.
I shook hands with a Medal of Honor winner once. A memorable moment in my life.
Wonderful service–then and now.
We need to pray for these brave soldiers and Marines.
I remember hearing a Colonel from West Point, a teacher of ethics, speak somewhat recently about our troops in the middle east. He has spoken with hundreds and hundreds of them, in Iraq and Afganistan. Interestly, he mentioned how the guy who will “do anything” to survive has, usually, the most stress on returning home. Most of our guys know that. If, even with a green light from above, they have the opportunity to, say, shoot a young Iraqi spotter, a 13 year old boy, they will NOT do it. This colonel said, many of our guys have kids at home, they would rather die than shoot a young Iraqi, even if he is spotting them.
The ethics prof–a Catholic–remarked on the power of the natural law as it affects our psyches.
It’s not nice ignore the natural law. Pay back is tough.
Pardon the double post. Verizon works for the Empire.
There is no such person as a Medal of Honor “Winner”. It is correct to say recipient.
To learn more about one of these extraordinary persons, Medal of Honor Recipient Jon Cavaiani, whi is featured in the video above, go to:
http://www.victorclaveau.com/htm_html/profile_of_columbia_medal_of_hon.htm
Our military deserves ALL of the support we can provide. Assistance to them and their families with issues related to PTS is just one form of support. Our daily prayers on their behalf are critical.
My neighbor is an Army psychiatrist. They are all working long hours these days. But, yes, there is help, good help. I saw this ad for the first time today, and it’s excellent. Bud Day, a great man and patriot, was in the ad too. He was the only POW to escape from North Viet Nam and make it to South Viet Nam. (A friend of mine escaped from the Hanoi Hilton and was brutally tortured and killed when found. He didn’t make it far.) Great ad featuring some wonderful men.
You can read about Bud here: http://www.historynet.com/bud-day-vietnam-war-pow-hero.htm
I know Roger Donlon. He and his wife Norma travel a lot because he is in demand as a speaker. When they’re in town, I often see them at daily mass. He is a retired Colonel, who as a Green Beret Captain was the first MoH recipient of the Viet Nam war. If memory serves, in Donlon’s book, Beyond Nam Dong, there is a picture of him with his high school Latin teacher.
Also LTC (ret) Chuck Hagemeister, who’s not in the video, and his wife Barbara are almost always at daily mass.
Some MoH facts some might find interesting.
Theodore Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the MoH, making him the only recipient who also received the Nobel Peace Prize.
His son, TR, jr, was awarded the MoH for Normandy.
Custer’s brother Thomas, was twice awared the MoH.
Douglas MacArthur and his father were both awarded the MoH.
I read some time ago that five chaplains have been awarded the Medal of Honor. All were Catholic priests. This makes sense, since there must be relatively few Orthodox chaplains and none of the other chaplains could do more for a dying man than the guy next to him.
83 Catholic chaplains gave their lives in World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam.
At least six Catholic chaplains were awarded the nation’s highest military honor:
Father Vincent R. Capodanno,
Father Angelo J. Liteky,
Father Joseph T. O’Callahan,
Father Charles Joseph Watters,
Father Joseph T. O’Callahan,
Father John P. Washington.
May they all rest in peace.
German born Father Emmeran Bliemel was the first Catholic Chaplain, North or South, ever to be killed in action during the Civil War. He was honored with the Confederate Medal of Honor, and has a Knights of Columbus Council in Georgia dedicated to him.